Tag Archives: Lillian Jones

I’ve returned to the bench after a hiatus, and need to sharpen my skills in granulation. As I love English history, and all things Game of Thrones, I will make a simplified Anglo Saxon Disk pendant. I start with a fine silver disk, size 1 and 1/8 inch, or about 29 mm. The thickness of my […]

Continuing from the last post, I am now going to use the etched plate to create and fine silver base for the enamel. I could use a rolling mill, but that would distort the image. So I will use the hydraulic press instead, which applies pressure directly down and will not stretch the silver. I’ve […]

This is the last part of a tutorial on torch enameled cloisonne. In this picture I have picked a color pallet of green and blue and yellow. And here I’ve filled the cells. Firing with mapp gas, and a cheap little torch tip from Lowes. And there it is, filled with […]

I am an enamelist, primarily. As offshoots of this passion I have also played with Jean Stark’s wonderful series of fused link chains, and lately, granulation. These endeavors have in common the act of fusing fine silver. If it is chain, you are making circles to become links. If it is enamel, I am […]

One thing about enameling, the color is marvelous. The Color is the point, mostly. But on a bad day, it can be is awful. Color in enamel depends on color combinations, and if you pick the right colors all is well. If not, then your piece goes into the box in the drawer. It […]

Lately I’ve been absorbed in making lots of earrings for the holiday season, using my new granulation skills. I’ve found fusing to be an easy and surprisingly speedy way to assemble things. Anyone who has experimented with granulation knows that the main problem is making the granules. My friend Iris solved this problem for me, […]

My friend Iris was in town this week, to enjoy the hurricane in Wilmington, NC. After it blew over, I joined her down at the Carolina coast for a few days of jewelry talk, fancy food and beach. Because this is our passion, we are both happiest while working. So she used her new technology […]

Design is the final frontier of any technique. Making a personal statement with granulation is difficult, because granulation has definite character. This week’s earrings for the Betty McKim Earring Challenge uses multiple techniques, and begins to explore the nexus between geometry and biology. On my bench I have these bases to start with. Being a […]

The past few years I have struggled with my affinity for the circle. It just seemed too easy, but recently I have decided to just go with it. After all, there are lots of interesting things that are circular: planets, hubcaps and hurricanes. This is one of a series of triskele enamels, with tri-fold symmetry. […]

Gone are the days when I tossed my mistakes into the little box on my bench. Silver is just too expensive to treat without the proper respect, and perhaps that is as it should be. Even though anything that could go wrong did, I decided to fix the meltdown to use for my Betty McKim […]